and it lifts me up to glory for
it lifts me up to thee. Acts 11. Acts 11. I want to tell you about someone
to pray for, and I know you will. Dee Parks, Daniel's son, he got rid, you know, he took
all the cancer treatments he could take. Then he took all
the, you know, they had to stop radiation because he got so weak. You know, the cancer he had was
so rare that they couldn't do anything in the world with it.
And then it's moved into his bones, moved into his back. And
his back bones are breaking. So a hospice is going to come
in tomorrow and start helping him manage his pain. And he's got two kids and a wife
and a mother and a dad and a sister. It's a tough thing, but you please
remember them, remember his family. And then the other day, that whatever you want to call
it, came into, went into that school down in Nashville, shot
three children, three adults, And the pastor of that particular
church, he lost his daughter. She's nine years old. So it's just, oh, I'm certainly thankful I
know the Lord. And, you know, with Dee and Christy and Daniel
and Sandy and CJ and Bob and Jeanette, you know, there are people that They're not without hope, you
know. They saw not as others sorrow,
but they sorrow. They shed a bucket full of tears,
I'm sure. And we got another bucket full
of shed. But I do want you to remember
them. I really do. Young man, 40 years old. Two
teenage kids to leave behind. All right, let me read. We'll read down through verse
10, then we'll just deal with the verses as we come to them.
And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter
was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision
contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised
and didst seat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter
from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying,
I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision,
a certain vessel descend as it had been a great sheet let down
from heaven by four corners, and it came even unto me. Upon
the which, when I had fastened mine eyes upon it, I considered,
and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, wild beasts, creeping
things, and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto
me, Arise, Peter, slay, and eat. But I said, not so, Lord, for
nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again
from heaven, what God hath cleansed call not thou common. And this
was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. Our great God and our Savior,
our Lord Jesus Christ, we look for your appearing soon, very
soon, and we look with great joy, great comfort, great peace
in our heart that when you appear, shall we
also appear with you. When you come, we'll go to be
with you forever and eternally. And Lord, I thank you for the
day, oh what a day, that you bless us, oh God, to get out
of bed this morning, closed in our right mind, with strength
to go through the day, no complaints, nothing but the blessings of
God upon us, upon our homes, upon our lives, upon our hearts,
nothing but thankfulness, nothing but blessing. nothing but praise,
and I bless you for it. And Lord, we've gathered out
here tonight, as I always say, we've gathered to worship, to
hear from your precious word, and pray the Holy Ghost would
be in our midst, and we pray for those who are not with us
through the weakness of their own body, through the frailty,
and God bless them, encourage them, comfort them. Fran, Rick and Helen and others
that I might not know about. But Lord, we especially pray
tonight for Brother D and his wife, mother
and daddy, children, her mother and daddy, brother. Lord, I know that they're trying
their best to be strong And we know that your grace is sufficient.
We know that you'll uphold them. We know that you'll see them
through this. When you said in your word, Lord, when we go through
the fire, it wouldn't burn us. Went through the river, not overflow
us. Went through the water, but oh
Lord Jesus, He said, thinking not strange concerning the fiery
trials. And they're in deep water. They're
in the fire. So Lord bless them. Put a hedge
about them. Meet the needs of their home,
their heart. Strengthen poor Dee and his body. Bless his wife's
heart and his kids. Oh, Lord, we ask these things
for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved rich like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I have already come. This grace has brought me safe,
thus bless His name. and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand
years, bright shining as The sun, we've no less days to sing
God's praises than when we first begun. OK. It's
been a long time since I've done all the singing and the preaching.
Bruce Crabtree has to do that every service. They don't have
a song. He has to lead the singing and then do the preaching. But
that's a blessing tonight to be able to do that. So years
later, they will need to practice, practice. All right, look with
me back here in Acts 11. My subject tonight is contentions
over the gospel. Contentions over the gospel.
You know, those of us that know the gospel, it's not a shame
to the gospel. It's precious to us. It's powerful
to us. And I'll tell you what, it's
a blessing to know the gospel. To know that it's the power of
God. to know that it's nothing ever to be ashamed of, to be
ashamed of the grace of God, to be ashamed of the cross of
Christ, to be ashamed of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to be ashamed of being a sinner, needing saved by the gospel,
by the power of God. But Peter here is confronted
by the Jews for going to preach to Gentiles, going into their
house, You remember what he said in verse 28 of chapter 10 when
he went to Cornelius' house, he said unto them, You know how
that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep
company or come unto one of another nation, for God has showed me
that I should not call any man unclean, common or unclean. And so they contend with him
for having fellowship with the Gentiles. That was an unheard
of thing for Jews to have anything to do with anybody other than
a Jew, other than a Jew. This was something new to them.
And anything new to them was suspicious, new to the Jews. In verse 1 it says this, And
the apostles and brethren I want you to notice who they were,
apostles. Who were the apostles? James and John, Matthew, Thaddeus,
Thomas. They were up in Jerusalem. The
apostles were in Jerusalem. And the brethren, and the brethren
that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received
the word of God. What a blessed thing. What a
blessed thing. You know, they find fault with
it, but what a blessed thing. It says that they also receive
the Word of God. What a blessed thing. What a
glorious thing. What a blessed thing to receive
the Word of God. A thing to rejoice over. Receive
the Word of God. What a blessing that is. And
these folks are finding fault with it. They're upset about
it. And you know, as some fellas come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
And they said to him, said, Master, there's a man that was married,
and he died, and his brother had a wife, and he died, and
his brother had a wife, and it went on to seven times. And he
said, which one of them, which one of them's gonna be married
in the resurrection? These are Sadducees, didn't even
believe in a resurrection. Our Lord said this, you know
what He told them? Ye do err. NEITHER KNOWING THE SCRIPTURES
OR THE POWER OF GOD." That's what he said. You all don't know
a thing in the world about the Word, and you certainly don't
know nothing about the power of God and what God's got the
power to do. But oh, what a glorious thing
to receive. And here are these fellas, and
then it says, and when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, remember
he was in Joppa. He'd been to Cornelius' house,
he preached there, and now he's going back to Jerusalem, going
back to Jerusalem. And then it says, When Peter
was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision
contended with him. When you see that circumcision,
you're talking about people that's in the covenant of Abraham. You're
talking about Jews, and this is their standing, this is their
ceremony, this is their ritual, this is the token of them being
in the covenant. And here are the Jewish, and
it says the brethren here. But it's just unimaginable for
them to have a fellowship with Christians, people that are called
believers. Anybody other than a Jew, it's
impossible for them to have any idea of having any fellowship
with them. But here's the thing about it. They contended with
Him. Now, there's not going to be
two churches. There ain't never been two churches. Ain't a church
for the Jew, and ain't a church for the Gentile. There's just
one church, and Christ is head over that church. And I tell
you, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, all have
been do what? Drank into one spirit, into one
body, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ain't that right? And that's
what he's trying to tell them here, so they're contending with
him. You see, these Jews are going
to have to do just like a Gentile, they're going to have to come
to faith alone. They're going to have to leave
off their ceremonies, their rituals, their circumcision, they're going
to have to leave off their feast days, they're going to have to
leave off all their ceremonies, they're going to have to leave
off all their law keeping. Got to leave it all gone. Huh? And then they've got to be brought
to where they trust in Christ alone, not anything they ever
said or done or believed before they come to Christ. Paul was
a Jew, and he said, I count everything but done when I found Christ,
when Christ found me. And oh my, and then they've got
to be brought to faith alone in Christ alone. And I'll tell
you, not two churches, no, no. Well, how in the world did Peter
answer these fellas? They're contending, they're arguing.
What did he say to them? Do you say, well, you all are
a bunch of fools, you don't know nothing. You reckon he said that
to them? Did he reckon he told them, said,
listen, mind your own business? Or he said, I'm an apostle. Don't
you think, don't dare question me, I'm an apostle. No, here's
what he actually answered them. First off, he says this. First thing he said, they said,
thou wentest in unto men uncircumcised and did eat with them. That's
what they were contentious about, that. But Peter rehearsed the
matter. Now listen to this, Peter rehearsed the matter. From the
very beginning, everything that actually happened, when God spoke
to him, saw this vision, until he went over to Cornelius's house,
he rehearsed it from the beginning and expounded it by order unto
them. He expounded this exactly to
the detail, what happened to him and what happened to Cornelius.
And here's the first thing he said, I was in the city of Joppa,
and verse 5, and I was praying. I was praying. That's the first
thing he says about it. He said, I was praying. He was a praying man! It didn't
matter where he was, whether he was in his country, whether
he was in Jerusalem, whether he was in a city, whether he
was on a rooftop. He was a praying man! He prayed! You all remember when he was
going into the temple and when that lame man was healed. You
know in Acts chapter 3, he was on his way in to pray. They were
going up to pray. when they stopped and healed
that lame man. So he was a praying man. And
I tell you what, that's the first thing everybody ought to do.
Oh, Lord, pray. You know, I'm a firm, firm believer
and praying, I do. But the first thing, the most
best prayers for me is not asking God for things, but the first
and foremost, you tell God how glorious He is, how blessed He
is, how mighty He is, powerful he is, how good he's been, how
gracious he's been, tell him all the things that he's done
for you, and everybody you know, and you start doing that, and
then next thing you know, you don't even think about asking
for anything, you've just given so much praise and honor to him
for what he's already done. If he'd never done another thing,
it'd be enough, wouldn't it? My and I tell you something else
he did he called on God in Christ He called on God in Christ. He
knew the Lord Jesus Christ. He called on God in Christ And
then next thing he told him that was a heavenly vision And he
said in verse 5 and I was in a trance and I saw a vision I
saw a vision And I told you that a certain vessel come down like
a sheet, had four corners on it. And he said it come right
down to where? Unto me, come down even to me. Now he was praying, I don't know
if he's on his knees, I don't know if he's standing up, but
he said it come to me, right in front of me. And he said,
I looked at it. I looked on it. So he, this is,
she come down, he said, I looked and I looked and I saw a bunch
of beasts, four-footed, creeping things, awful things, horrible
things. And he went on through that,
and I tell you what, he had a heavenly vision. It was a revelation from
God. And I tell you what he said,
and what he said was to get him to go to Cornelius' house, he
had to find out that what God cleansed Don't you dare call
it common. Don't you dare to call it unclean.
And I tell you, it's a revelation from God. It's His purpose for
the Gentiles to hear the gospel. And let me tell you something. It's not being clean or unclean.
You know, it's not that. You know how the only way in
the world a person can be purified in this world? is by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that'll
purify us. Huh? Nothing else will do it.
Nothing else will do it. And see what's happening here
is, this idea that the Gentiles are gonna hear the gospel, and
they were upset about it. There's a transition. And you'll
find this going through the book of Acts, and of course it never,
ever takes place except for a very few. There's a transition, you're
going from law, you're going from law, you're going from ceremonies,
you're going from feast days and Sabbath days and holy days
and certain ceremonies, you're going from that, you're going
from that to grace. And it just, you know, we didn't
come to grace just like that. No, no, no, and that's what has
to do. There has to be a transition.
They're going from law over to grace. They're going from ceremonies
to Christ. They're going from rituals to
what Christ accomplished, and it takes some time. These fellows
have to be taught and taught and taught and taught. You're
talking about somebody steeped in religion, steeped in ceremonies. I heard a woman say one time, A Jewish woman, Jewish woman,
she said, listen, they asked her about the love of God. Do
you ever consider the love of God? And I know about three or
four Jews personally. And the first thing they'll tell
you is God's love don't have nothing to do with anything.
We don't even think about that. We're too busy keeping laws. We got
so many ceremonies we have to wash so many times. We have to
be purified so many ways. We got, she said, 619 laws. That's almost like our government. You give me 1619 laws to obey,
I guarantee you I'm going to break a few of them because I
don't know which one's which. But that's what they don't think
about the love of God. They don't even think about it,
don't it enter their mind? It doesn't. And so here, this thing
about the Gentiles receiving the gospel, you know, it was
HID for generations. Paul said, this has been HID. It was HID. I don't know, they
didn't see it. They didn't see it in Ruth. They
didn't see it in... They did not see that God was
going to save the Gentiles. This was something that they
never did dream would ever happen. You know, one of the things that
Christ was going to do when He'd come, He'd be a light to the
Gentiles. He said, Ask of me the heathen,
and I'll give them to you for your inheritance. Well, that's
what we are. We're its inheritance. And so
here they'd been hid from generations. But you know what, it took a
vision. It took a vision from heaven to cause him to understand
God's will. To understand God's will about
going and preaching to a Gentile. He said, it's not lawful for
me to do it. And I would not be here right now had I not had
a vision. I would not have dared stepped
in your house. I would not have dared to preach
to you. I wouldn't have had anything to do with you except I had this
vision. God had to prepare him. God had
to prepare him. No longer purified by food, you
know. People talk about food. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, he told them, he said, you know, it's not that
that goes into the mouth that defiles you. It's what comes
out of the heart. And I tell you what, he had to
understand God's will. And I want you to see something
with me in Deuteronomy 29. Talking about the will of God. talking about the purpose of
God, talking about the things of God. Oh, they got upset, you
know, because his disciples, he saw them eating with unworshipped
hands, the Pharisees did, and they said, oh, why does your
master eat with unworshipped hands? Why do your people and
your disciples eat with unworshipped hands? And he said, listen, it's not
what you eat that's going to defile you. That's what he's
telling me. It's not what you're eating that's going to defile
you. It's what comes out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth
speaking. But look what he said here in Deuteronomy 29, 29. Talking
about he had this heavenly vision to prepare him to go preach to
these Gentiles. And he's telling these Jews this,
rehearsing what exactly took place. But look what it said
here in verse 29. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God. You know what secret things we're
talking about? What holds tomorrow. Did you think two years ago,
D would think he'd be as sick as he is? That was a secret thing. And God has so many secret things
that we don't know about ourselves, about the future, about what's
gonna happen in this world. God's got those things all, they're
in his, that's his business. You know what my business is?
TO LOOK TO HIM, CALL ON HIM, TRUST HIM, BELIEVE HIM, BOW TO
HIM, ADORE HIM. AND THEN LOOK WHAT HE GOES ON
TO SAY, BUT THOSE THINGS THAT ARE REVEALED BELONG UNTO US. WHAT HE REVEALS IN HIS BLESSED
BOOK THAT BELONGS TO US AND TO OUR CHILDREN FOREVER. OH MY,
SO YOU KNOW HE'S GOT SECRET THINGS. YOU KNOW, IT'S LIKE JAMES SAID,
HE SAYS, Say not, say not. I'm gonna go
to such and such a place. I'm gonna buy and I'm gonna sell.
And he said, don't say that. Don't say that. I'm gonna go
to this here and I'm gonna do that and I'm gonna do this other
thing. He said, James said, don't say that. Don't say that. You say, whether God will, I'll
go to such and such a place. Whether God will, I'll do such
and such a thing. Whether God will, I'll go to
this place. I mean, listen, ain't you glad
that God's will governs our lives no matter what it does in our
lives? I find the most blessed comfort
in that right there. I've went through some trials
and you have too, and you're gonna go through some more, but
ain't you grateful that God and His blessed will is what controls
this world and my life and your life? Wouldn't you hate to be left
to destiny? Wouldn't you hate to be left to fate? Wouldn't
you hate to be left to just chance or luck? Oh boy, somebody say, man, I've
had the awfulest bad luck. Oh, I'm so thankful. And that's
what God had to do for Simon Peter. I'm going to have you
go preach to some Gentiles. I'm going to have the door open
for the Gentiles. I KNOW they're filthy. I KNOW
they're wretched. I KNOW they don't know nothing
about God. I KNOW they don't know nothing about Christ. I
KNOW they don't know nothing about your Word. But you're going
to go and preach to them. And what God had to do, and He
has to do the same thing on Cornelius' side. He's got to prepare Cornelius
to listen to Simon Peter. Oh my. Well, did he get this
command? And this happened three times.
Remember I told you everything happened to Simon Peter happened
in threes. He denied the Lord three times. The Lord asked him
three times, do you love me? And here he was. Had to have
a vision three times. And guess what? Three men met
him, waiting on him. And oh, look what happens in
verse 12. And God's command, God's commission on account of
this vision. And we're down in verse 11. And behold, immediately there
were three men already come under the house where I was sent from
Saria. He was up on the rooftop praying. And there's three men
downstairs waiting on him. And listen, I love this right
here. And the spirit bade me go. The spirit bade me go. He said, I wasn't gonna go, but
spirit made me go. Spirit made me go, go! Spirit
made me go. Oh my. And that's what it meant,
he'll guide you. Remember when Philip was down
in Gaza? And there was a fellow way off,
pretty good ways off in his chariot at Ethiopian. And the spirit
told Philip, said, Philip, Run over there and join yourself
to that chariot. He run over there and walked alongside that.
He was a pretty good ways off and he had to go over there.
And he preached to the, asked that man, do you understand what
you're reading? No, I don't. That's the way these Gentiles
was. They didn't understand. It's like us, what did we know?
Had not God met us and taught us and did something for us?
So the Spirit made me go. He'll guide you. And then I love
this right here. I want to say it again in verse
12. Nothing doubting. Wouldn't you like to be that
in your heart and in your mind? Nothing doubting. He went, no
doubting, nothing doubting about it. I don't doubt this. How could
he doubt? He just had a vision. Three of
them, one right after another. And the Spirit told him there
were men at the door looking for him. And he went down there,
and there they were, there they were. Oh my, go doubting nothing. And I tell you what, he went
down there, and there was three men waiting for him, and he says,
nothing doubted. So now he's rehearsing this to
these Jews now that was contending with him over him going eating
in with Gentiles. And, and, and moreover, these
six brethren, there were six men there with him. That would
have been seven of them going down there plus the three from
Cornelius. And there was, they went down
there and these six brethren accompanying me and we entered
into the man's house. Oh my. You know, the worldly
wise, they don't understand God's ways. They don't understand God's
ways. They're too busy trying to get
folks to do something for Jesus instead of being concerned to
what Christ's already done. But look what else he goes on
to say now. And then Cornelius had to be prepared too. And he showed us
how, now when he entered into the man's house, into Cornelius'
house, he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house. We
stood and said unto him, Send a joppin, call for Simon, whose
surname is Peter." Oh my, taught me everything that had happened
there. And you know why that's so? It's because the soul's been
prepared for the seed. Grace, as I said, goes before
grace. Grace is preparing Cornelius'
heart for the gospel, for the word. Now watch what happens
now. He had to be prepared for the
gospel of salvation by grace, salvation by Christ. He was already
religious, remember that? He was already religious. And
then look what he said. And he said, when he sent for
Peter, he said, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all
thy house shall be saved. He shall tell thee words. See,
these folks received the word. He shall tell you words. Here's
the thing, here's the thing, and I've told you this and tell
you this, God works by His Word. Always has and always will. Every
Jew that's ever been converted, every soul that's ever been converted,
they had to have the Word. Huh? They had to have the Word.
That's why Isaiah said, who hath believed our report? Who's believed
our preaching? Who has? Well, I'll tell you
somebody has. I have. I believed it. I believed
it. And let me show you something
in Acts 13. Go over here in 13, verse 48. And he said, he'll tell you words.
Words. Words. Words is what people use
to communicate with one another. And the first words anybody wants
their baby to say is daddy or mommy. That's the first word
they want to hear. First words out of our mouth
after God saved us said, Oh father, my father. Oh God, my God. Oh Lord, my Lord. Oh no, we never
stopped crying. But look what he said here in
Acts 13, 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad, and listen to this, glorified the word of the
Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was
published. How was it published? Preaching.
Words, God uses words. Our Lord Jesus, one of the most
blessed things you'll ever find in John 17, where our Lord's
talking about us being given to him and how he prayed for
us. He said, Father, he said, I have given them thy word. And they believed him. They believed
him. And they believe that you sent
me. And he said, and I pray not for
the world, but for them who shall believe on me through what? Through
their word. Huh? Through their word. And you, you know, I could keep
my mouth shut and stand here and not say a word. Not one of
you know what's going on in my mind. Not one of you know what's
going on in my mind. And I can look at you and I don't
know what's going on in yours. So how in the world are we going
to know what's going on in each other's mind? Words. How are we going to know what's
going on with God and how God saves a sinner? How God blesses
a soul? How God does something for somebody?
Word. Words. Words are vehicles of
thought to communicate. You put them out there and you
communicate with somebody. And I tell you, our Lord said,
You know, after you heard that Paul talked about the Ephesians,
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
the word of truth, the word of truth, and he shall tell thee
words and listen to this whereby you shall be saved. There's no
salvation. He said, whereby you shall be
saved. Wouldn't it be awful if you had
to go someplace where they didn't even pack in a Bible and the
preacher got up and preached out of a book, a book of outlines
that he bought somewhere, read out of them. Wouldn't that be
awful? Especially if you're used to the word. And, oh, the word's
nigh thee. That's what our Lord said. The
word's nigh thee. It's even in your mouth. What
is that word? The salvation's in Christ and
Christ alone. That is the word. The living
word, the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the word that denies you.
That's the word of salvation. That's where righteousness dwells
in him. And then look what happens now.
Salvation's accomplished. Look what he says in verse 15
and 16. Look what he says. as I began to speak,"
as I began to preach, he said he began to preach, and you go
back over in Acts 10, you remember this, and as he was preaching,
the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. You remember
what on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came on them
and they all began speaking other tongues in a language that everybody
there could hear them speak in their own language? Well, that
same thing happened here while Peter was preaching, the Holy
Ghost The Holy Ghost come down on them. We dealt with that Sunday.
Holy Ghost came down on them. And the evidence and the proof
of that God had give the Holy Ghost to them and baptized them
into the Holy Ghost and put them in the body of Christ was this.
They began to speak in another language. Began to speak in another
language. They were Romans. They spoke
in Latin. Romans spoke in Latin. Jews spoke in Hebrew. So how's
a person who knows nothing but Latin gonna understand what a
Jew's preaching and he's preaching in Hebrews? God. That's what you said you heard. He's adorning the power of God.
God can do that. And that's what he's doing. They
heard him preaching. Heard him preaching. And oh,
look what else he said. He felt just like he did on us.
Then, listen to what he said. Remember thy the word of the
Lord. He said, I remembered this when I was preaching this, and
what happened? This is what I remember. He said, John indeed baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Huh? Oh my. The Holy Ghost came upon them,
fell on them as he did us at the beginning. You know, the
Lord Jesus baptized these Gentiles into his body. Now, here's the
thing about it. He didn't say, Let's circumcise
them now and take them to the local synagogue. That's not what
He said. Let's circumcise and THEN baptize
them. No, no. Look what He says in
verse 17, For as much then as God gave them, everything we
get has to be given to us. God gave them the like gift as
He did unto us. WHO FIRST BELIEVED ON THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST. IT WAS A GIFT. HE DID FOR THEM
WHAT HE DID FOR US. SOULS, I'M TELLING YOU BELOVED,
SOULS, SOULS CANNOT BE SAVED WITHOUT THE HOLY GHOST POWER,
WITHOUT HIS POWER, WITHOUT HIM MAKING CHRIST KNOWN TO THEM.
IT'S AN IMPOSSIBILITY. AND THEN LOOK WHAT HE SAYS. HE
SAID AS HE DID US WHO BELIEVED ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, Now
here's the thing, they believed, they were believers, they were
saved. Peter preached the gospel unto
them, God gave the Holy Ghost to come down on them, just like
it did on them on the day of Pentecost. Now listen, he answers
their question, why did you go in? They contended with him,
oh goodness, and he has one question that silences them, and that's
in verse 17. And what was I that I could withstand
God? He said, what am I? What am I
that I could withstand God? He said, God is sovereign. He
works where he will, upon whom he will. I couldn't withstand
him. Would you stand up against him?
That's what he's saying to you. Would you fellas stand up against
God if he told you to go to the Gentiles? He said, I went because
he told me to, and I went without doubting nothing. He said, oh,
listen, what was I gonna do? I couldn't withstand God. And
boy, they didn't have nothing else to say right there. In verse
18, and we'll be done. When they heard these things,
what things? When he started talking about
everything from the beginning, where he had the vision, where
Cordeus had the vision, and he brought down everything. They
come right down there and told him exactly everything that happened.
And when they heard these things, they held their peace. They didn't
want to argue anymore. They didn't want to contend anymore.
They didn't want to fuss and fight anymore. They held their
peace. Got nothing else to say. And here's what they said, they
held their peace and glorified God. That's the end of everything
God's doing in this world, is to bring glory to Himself. They glorified God. The reason
for all God does is to glorify Himself and His Son. And when
they had heard these things, the truth of what had happened,
they held their peace What can we say? It is the Lord. Let him
do what seemeth good. And then look what they said
at the very last. They glorified God saying, then
God hath also to the Gentiles, listen to this, granted repentance
unto life. He gave them a change of mind. You know what repentance is?
Change of mind. You go over to 1 Thessalonians just says, in
1 Thessalonians 1.10, he said, they turned from their idols
to serve the living God. That's what happened here. They
turned from their idols to serve the living God. Boy, I'm glad
that God turned to the Gentiles. Ain't you? Oh, I tell you, I'm
so thankful. Our Father, our great and blessed
God in heaven, How holy, how holy, how holy you are. How full of grace and mercy you
are. Oh, Lord, we thank you for your
gospel. Thank you for the attention of
your dear people. Lord, bless the word to our hearts, to our
understanding. Bless it to our faith. It's a
blessed thing to hear the gospel and faith come with it, to hear
the word and faith come with it. to see things we haven't
seen, heard things, things that we see over and over again, but
in a new place, in a new light. Oh Lord, we thank you for it.
God bless these dear saints. Bless those that are listening
tonight. Keep them, preserve them, and bless them till we
come to worship together again. For Christ's sake we pray, amen,
amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you. for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich and free. See you Sunday, God
will it.